WASHINGTON — The special panel that investigated the storming at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2017 voted unanimously in favor of subpoenaing documents and testimony from former President Donald Trump.
“He must answer for his actions,” stated Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of Jan. 6 committee.
Trump will likely refuse to comply with the subpoena. If Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena, the House must vote to refer the matter to the Justice Department. This agency has the power to decide whether or not to bring criminal charges.
The hearing was held while the Senate and House were in recess. It included testimony that Trump was repeatedly alerted about brewing violence, but did not do anything to stop it.
The records actually showed that Trump wanted to inflame the conflict.
The hearing heard taped testimony – no witnesses – that Trump admitted to many people that he knew that he had lost the election. The evidence presented by the committee showed that Trump signed orders to withdraw troops from Somalia and Afghanistan just days after he was declared the loser in the election. This is evidence that Trump knew that his term was ending.
Greg Jacob, the counsel for former Vice President Mike Pence, stated that some members of Trump’s White House planned to declare victory on election night, “prior to the results being known.”
Thursday’s hearing will be the last public one by the special committee. The committee has been investigating the attack at the U.S. Capitol, which led to many deaths (including being cited for death by suicide), and more than 140 officers getting injured.
We are well into the political debate season
It is a time-honored tradition to debate one’s political opponent. This can sometimes change the course history. After debating Steven Douglass multiple times about slavery, Abraham Lincoln narrowly lost his bid to be a senator. However, Douglas’ status as a national leader in the Democratic Party was severely diminished by the high-profile debates. Even though he lost the election to the Republican Party, Lincoln was praised for his eloquent advocacy of the Republican cause.
In retrospect Douglass, an incumbent had wished that he hadn’t debated Lincoln. Modern incumbents often try to limit the chances of going head-to-head against a political opponent. This leaves challengers complaining that their opponents are afraid of engaging, when in reality they don’t want their challengers on the platform.
Only one debate was held in the Minnesota’s hot congressional race, the neck-and-neck contest between Rep. Angie Craig (D-2 nd,) and Republican Tyler Kistner.
Kistner and Craig faced off at Dakota County Technical College on Thursday. Kistner stayed true to his GOP strategy of accusing his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, of having close ties and then blaming her crime and high inflation.
Kistner pulled out his phone multiple times to show the debaters a picture of the stock market indexes. These were plummeting due to Thursday’s release of the consumer inflation report for September, which showed an increase that was larger than expected.
Wall Street, however, was able to shake off the report, and the Dow Jones index at one time during the day soared over 800 points. However, it is difficult to understand why volatility exists in the market.
Craig, on the other hand, was proud of her party’s achievements, including the approval of an infrastructure bill as well as the Inflation Reduction Act. This bill is a huge climate and health bill. She also tried to distance herself from the policies of her party, and the president. It was a delicate balance act.
Craig stated that she had split with Biden over the president’s use his executive authority to forgive some college loan debts. This move was criticized by Kistner and many Americans of both parties.
Craig stated, “I’m not so certain about Joe Biden’s plan.
Kistner, however, was fully engaged in the GOP’s midterm agenda. Kistner often spoke of a newly unveiled “Commitment to America”, a plan Republican leaders created to support their candidates on the campaign trail. He waved a small booklet that he described the plan at least once.
The “Commitment To America” is not a comprehensive agenda. It’s more like a collection of brief descriptions, such as “curb wasteful government spending,” and “fight inflation and lower living costs.”
It is the No. Its No. 1 priority is to repeal 87,000 new agents of the Internal Revenue Service who will be employed under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Kistner stated that “the last thing people need are 87,000 IRS agents frivolously inspecting your taxes.”
This could be an inaccurate description. The IRS is severely underfunded. The biggest beneficiaries are high-income tax cheats who require a lot more manpower to audit. A lot of the Inflation Reduction Act funding will be used to replace agents who are due to retire within the next five year. Other funds would be used for improving taxpayer services and modernizing the IRS, as well as the enforcement of tax codes.
Sometimes, insults from both candidates caused the debate to be stalled.
Kistner described himself as a middle-class man and said to Craig, “I don’t live in a mansion as you do.”
Craig called Kistner “election denier” as the Republican filed a lawsuit to challenge the results of his narrow defeat in 2020 when he ran against Craig. Craig accused Kistner, too, of shifting from a hardline abortion stance and waffling.
Craig stated, “You pretend to be the boy next door. But you’re too extreme for Minnesota’s 2 District.”
Kistner claims he is pro-life, except in cases where rape occurs or when the life and health of a mother is at risk. He has not changed his stance.
Kistner replied, “Oh it’s becoming fun now,” as Craig’s attack was loudly reacted to.
Kistner stated, “Congresswoman Craig. I have never seen anyone run a more dishonesty campaign than you did in this campaign cycle. That is uncharacteristic of a congressional member from the 2 nd Congress District trying to represent people. It just shows how willing you are to lie to people to maintain your political power.”
Kistner’s campaign issued a statement immediately after the debate ended claiming that Kistner had won the debate.
“This election is all about one simple question: Are you more fortunate than you were two-years ago?” Kistner successfully made the case that Washington’s old problems need to be looked at again in today’s debate and won the debate,” Tyler Dunn, campaign spokesperson, said.
I don’t know which debate winner. However, I can tell you that the tone of this highly competitive race isn’t likely to change between now and Nov. 8.
In another congressional race…
Jeff Ettinger is a Democrat, and the former CEO at Hormel, who is running against Rep. Brad Finstad (R-1 st). His first campaign ad was released this week. Ettinger, like most Democratic candidates on the issue of abortion, attacked his GOP opponent.
Ettinger claims that Finstad’s views on abortion are “too extreme” in the spot. Finstad stated that he is pro-life and believes abortion law should not be determined by the federal government in a May debate.
Ettinger claims that Finstad, a former member the state legislature, has “voted more than 60 times to restrict abortion and contraceptives access.”
Ettinger states in the ad that she believes that the decision to have an abortion should be a private one and should not be made between a woman’s doctor and the woman.
Although the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe in a case about an Mississippi abortion clinic, Dobbs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has energized Democratic voters some Democrats worry that the “Dobbs effect”, which was invalidated by Roe , might not be lasting.
James Carville, a long-time campaign strategist, criticized other Democratic consultants for placing too much trust in running on abortion while voter concerns about economic conditions are increasing.
Many of these consultants believe that if we only run abortion sites, then it will be profitable for us. Carville said, “I don’t believe so.” It’s a great issue. It’s a good issue, but if they keep pounding you with crime and cost of living ,you have to be more aggressive than shouting abortion every word.
Carville actually told those who worked for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign to focus on the economy, not stupid.
Republicans across the country are following Carville’s lead and blaming Democrats to blame for inflation. They either claim that the U.S. is in a recession (which is not the case) or warn of a possible recession.
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